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Interview with Pascal Tourette, ISFB lecturer in banking law and compliance
Mr Tourette, you are a lecturer at the ISFB, where you teach banking law. Can you tell us about your experience as a lecturer?
I've been teaching banking law and compliance at the ISFB since 2006, a date that coincides closely with the creation of my own law firm. In a way, I've grown up with the institute and with some of its students, whom I sometimes meet up with again, much to my delight. I'm now benefiting from the rejuvenating effects of the younger generation as they enter the world of work.
Teaching is particularly close to my heart, given that my traditional activity as a lawyer, i.e. litigation, takes on a more confrontational, sometimes emotional aspect that is absent here. I like to pass on what I've learned, and talk to students about the course and related current events, as the law is put into practice in the field, taking on an evolving aspect, particularly in the financial world. I appreciate this link with current affairs, sometimes even with events that take place between the time the course is developed and the day of the course, or even on the day itself.
The law firm's judicial and advisory activities enable me to spice up my lectures with practical examples and anecdotes, which I think makes them more lively and helps me capture the attention of students who are sometimes tired from a long day at evening classes or a stressful start to the week at work.
These interactions are particularly enriching for me, and I hope for the students too. We often do role-playing to stimulate the audience, sometimes with people with obvious theatrical qualities, which adds a playful side to the day, or even to the training days, and creates good synergies between colleagues from the same financial institute or between colleagues from the same branch.
Can you tell us about your academic and professional background?
I have a classic law degree, a barrister's certificate and then completed a Master of Laws in England (LL.M). Before setting up my own law firm, I worked for several years in a major local bank as a compliance officer, which gave me an insider's view of the industry and enabled me to speak the same language as the students who attend my classes.
Part of your job at the ISFB is to provide customized training for the Institute's members, while another is to work on the Continuing Education Certificates. How do you distinguish between the two, and how do you go about it?
The two approaches are similar in that they involve training in the same subject area.
However, they differ in that tailor-made training, as its name suggests, enables me to tailor-make predefined subjects, in particular with the financial intermediary's compliance/legal functions. I'm in contact with trainers who often have the same background as me, and then with employees who may come from a variety of backgrounds. This duality is interesting.
Strategic Business Area 1
Continuing Education
The Institute aims to maximize the collective and individual skills of the banking ecosystem in French-speaking Switzerland. It trains specialists in technical fields as well as in managerial and interactional skills.
The training program offers different types of training in Wealth Management, Asset Management, Retail & Corporate Banking, Support & Back-Office, Legal, Risk & Compliance and Management.
